Nevergirl's

Some things never change in Tubigon. Here’s my quick list of 10 things I find remarkable in this little place.

1. Everyone knows everyone.

2. People still see me as that little girl whose mom died 2 days before she turned 10. They tell me, “Paspasa nimo midaku oi!” As if I don’t have daughters of my own now! As if we’d seen each other last year and I was all of 4 feet! As if the past 15 years never came between the then and now!

3. My lola seems to think I need constant feeding. Every 30 minutes or so, she’ll shove a plateful of sweets before me and urge me to eat. She thinks I need fattening. I tell her if I get any bigger, they’ll have to roll me through the doorway.

4. People think I look like everyone else. “You look like your mom,” says one. “You look like your dad,” says another. The rest claim I look like my aunt, my grandmother, or a distant relative. Seriously, I get it – I don’t have looks to kill for. Buuuut when people tell you YOU look like half the barrio, there must be something seriously wrong with your face, yes?

5. We keep the oddest of eating hours – breakfast at 6am, lunch at 11am, and dinner at 5:30pm. I’m not sure why they keep such early hours; no one in this house has to report to work!

6. The ratio of yaya to family member is 1:1. The only exemption is my aunt. Whoever said barrio folks like to DIY hasn’t been to my lola’s!

7. People are very friendly – waaaay too friendly. We can’t take 10 steps out of the house without some stranger calling out, “Hey Chin, when did you arrive?” I don’t know them from Adam so I either smile politely and mumble “karon lang” or pretend deafness. I rather think I make a cute deaf mute! Hahaha.

8. J replaces Y – all the time! Think ija, wa jamo, jati.

9. People don’t mind their Internet connection is turtle-slow. I tried checking my mail just now and I had to opt for an html view. Sucks! Then again, the fact that the lola is connected to the Internet to begin with is a small miracle of sorts. They don’t even have cable TV or a McDonald’s hereabouts!

10. I seem to be related to everyone. Since we arrived here, I’ve lost count of the no. of hands I’ve had to bring to my forehead. I don’t understand how I came to be related to almost everyone in town but I’m keeping mum. My lola knows the family tree like she knows color coordination. One question, that’s all it would take to get her started: “Si Agapito nga taga Ingod parente sa pang-agawan sa imong……”

On a related note, what’s the English equivalent for “mu-bless”? I can’t think of a word or even a phrase but surely, the term exists!